Guinness World Records reviews evidence related to ‘oldest dog’ title
GWR originally said the canine lived for 31 years and 165 days, breaking a record held since 1939. Guinness World Records (GWR) says it is conducting a formal review of the “world’s oldest dog” title it gave to a Portuguese canine named Bobi, who died last year. The move follows complaints by veterinarians who raised doubts over his age. Bobi was a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo who spent his life in a village in central Portugal. The GWR originally said the creature lived for 31 years and 165 days, breaking a record held since 1939 by an Australian cattle dog that died at 29 years and five months. Bobi, who died in October, was declared the world’s oldest dog in February. Dogs of Bobi’s breed, traditionally used as sheepdogs, usually live 12 to 14 years. A spokesperson for the GWR said the review into Bobi’s record was ongoing and it included looking over evidence again, seeking new evidence and reaching out to experts and those linked to the original application. “While our review is ongoing, we have decided to temporarily pause applications on both the record titles for oldest dog living and [oldest dog] ever until all of our findings are in place and have been communicated,” the spokesperson said. Bobi’s owner, Leonel Costa, said in a statement on Tuesday that after his dog’s death, “an elite within the veterinary world … tried to give people the idea that Bobi’s life story was not true.” According to Costa, some veterinarians were upset because he attributed Bobi’s longevity to factors including a steady diet of “human food” rather than pet food, which he said was often recommended by those in the sector. “Everything would be different if we had said he [Bobi] ate pet food for three decades,” Costa said, adding that all requirements requested by the GWR were met. Costa said the GWR has not reached out to him. No action has yet been taken regarding any record holders, the GWR said. It added that any action would be determined by the review’s outcome. Before his death, Bobi still loved walks but had become less adventurous, Costa previously told the Reuters news agency. His fur was thinning, his eyesight had worsened and he needed to rest more than in earlier years, Costa said. Adblock test (Why?)
Violent protests over jailing of activist in Russia’s Bashkortostan
NewsFeed Police clashed with thousands of people gathered to protest the jailing of Indigenous rights activist Fail Alsynov in Russia’s far eastern region of Bashkortostan. The Indigenous rights activist was convicted of inciting ethnic hatred and sentenced to 4 years in a penal colony. Published On 17 Jan 202417 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinians’ tents in Gaza offer no shelter from Israeli bombardment
NewsFeed “It’s a tent. I came to find my family in pieces.” A Palestinian father recalls an Israeli attack on his family’s tent in central Gaza that killed three of his children after they were displaced from the north. Published On 17 Jan 202417 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinian shop-owner used as human shield by Israeli forces
NewsFeed A Palestinian shop-owner was used as a human shield by Israeli forces after they raided his mobile phone store in Dura, in the occupied West Bank. Ongoing Israeli raids in the territory have caused the worst spike in violence there for almost two decades. Published On 17 Jan 202417 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Death threats for a Stalin vandal prompt soul-searching in Orthodox Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia – When Nata Peradze heard that an icon featuring Joseph Stalin was on display inside Georgia’s largest cathedral, she decided to take action. “It’s my pain,” Peradze told Al Jazeera. “We have no [discussions] about what happened and no memorials for the people who went through hell because of this guy. There were priests on my father’s side and on my mother’s there were dissidents. Some were deported to Siberia and some were lost and we never knew what happened to them.” On January 9, the anticorruption activist and avowed atheist went inside Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral to find the offending painting of the Georgian-born Soviet leader. “I had my method. I had put paint inside three eggs and then waxed them closed. A priest was standing next to me, and I threw the eggs at the painting and he asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I said ‘It’s Stalin, he killed my ancestors!’” The icon was displayed at Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, Georgia’s largest cathedral [Robin Forestier-Walker/Al Jazeera] Debates about her vandalism of the icon, named Holy Matrona of Moscow blesses Stalin, turned ugly on Facebook. Peradze received death threats. Despite archives proving Stalin ordered the executions of thousands of innocent civilians during the Great Terror, including large numbers of clergy, Georgian society is divided over his legacy decades later. Public discussions rage on social media as false narratives that Stalin was secretly a devout Orthodox Christian proliferate. In one popular myth, Stalin ordered an aircraft during the second world war to circle Moscow mounted with a religious icon, saving the Soviet Union’s capital from German occupation. The same narratives argue Stalin did not know about the mass killings or that if he did know, they were necessary and that his kind of leadership is needed now. This month’s scandal has threatened to spiral into a more dangerous phase of polarisation ahead of a highly anticipated general election later this year. While Georgia’s government insists it represents a majority of Georgians who want NATO and European Union membership – it took credit for the EU’s decision to grant Georgia EU candidate status in December – its critics say it is quietly building ties with the Kremlin and spreading Russian disinformation. ‘Stalin’s personality is like a strategic axis’ Giorgi Kandelaki of Sovlab, a Soviet history research organisation which aims to counter what it describes as Russia’s weaponisation of the past, says the icon was a triumph of Moscow’s propaganda. “Cultivation of [an] anti-Western, ethno-religious and chauvinistic strait of Georgian nationalism is [a] key long-term goal of Russia in Georgia and in that project Stalin’s personality is like a strategic axis, an umbrella.” In step with the Kremlin’s rehabilitation of Stalin as a wise and honourable leader who is given all the credit for the defeat of Nazi Germany, there has been a resurgence in Stalin’s popularity in Georgia, with at least 11 new statues of him appearing since the governing Georgian Dream party came to power in 2012. Anti-Russian graffiti in downtown Tbilisi [Robin Forestier-Walker/Al Jazeera] Meanwhile, far-right nationalist parties that claim to defend Georgian traditional values and Orthodox Christianity are emerging. They decry the West as morally corrupt and call for an end to Georgia’s NATO aspirations. One of these parties, the Alliance of Patriots, is alleged to have received strategic and financial support from a Kremlin-affiliated political consultant and donated the painting of Saint Matrona that includes the icon featuring Stalin. Patriots leader Irma Inashvili defended the decision. “When an icon of a saint is painted, episodes of their life are presented on this icon, and one such episode is Stalin’s meeting with Matrona, when the representative of the godless regime, the ruler, had to meet the saint,” she said. While the Georgian Orthodox Church initially defended its decision to display the icon, the church leadership on January 11 – two days after Peradze’s protest – issued a statement requesting that the donors “make changes” or it would do so itself. It said there was “insufficient evidence” that Saint Matrona, a canonised 20th-century Russian holy woman, had ever met Stalin. Police stand guard outside Georgia’s Parliament at a far right rally against the vandalism of the icon on January 13 [Robin Forestier-Walker/Al Jazeera] Sopo Gelava, a researcher with the US-based think tank Atlantic Council’s DFRLab, cast the statement as an apparent climbdown by Georgia’s most powerful spiritual institution. “The Georgian Orthodox Church plays a significant role in maintaining [Stalin’s] image as a religious person. My feeling is that they saw the clash infecting society. It’s going to become very important in 2024 around election time, but right now it’s not [helpful] for the government to have this divisive topic at the moment.” But senior government officials condemned Peradze’s attack. Anri Okhanashvili, who chairs a Georgian parliamentary committee on legal issues, said it was an “anti-Church and a provocative act” as he warned the government would seek to increase penalties for religious insults. Georgia’s Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili said Peradze’s action was part of a coordinated campaign by “radicals” that was both politically counterproductive and damaging to the country. “The radical opposition’s attempts to portray the Georgian Orthodox Church as Russia’s extension in Georgia is not only inaccurate but also deplorable, leading to unnecessary controversy in the society and creating yet another dubious ‘perception’ among our Western partners,” Papuashvili wrote on Facebook. Generational divides? Peradze, who posted a video on Facebook of the painting daubed with blue paint, went into hiding after Alt-Info, another far-right nationalist group, shared her address on its Telegram channel. Like senior government officials, its leaders have sought to portray her action as an attack on the church. “Some monkey, funded by the West, an LGBT [ba****d] ran into Trinity Cathedral and insulted us,” said Giorgi Kardava, chair of Alt-Info’s political wing. Dozens of Alt-Info supporters tried to break into Peradze’s home on January 10. Peradze, who lives with her two sons, said police held back the crowd. “Previously they have said
Will new criminal bills turn India into a police state ahead of 2024 vote?
New Delhi, India – Late last month India’s parliament passed two sets of controversial legislation in the biggest overhaul of the criminal justice system and telecom laws that critics say could greatly increase police powers and facilitate mass surveillance. The first set of legislations comprises three criminal laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) of 2023 – that will replace the colonial-era India Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that the new bills will free the citizens from “the colonial-era mindset and its symbols”. However, critics claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has used the discourse of decolonisation to enact laws that are more draconian than the laws they are replacing. The changes, they say, fit into the ruling party’s larger project of Hindu nationalism, with its projection of the past as a time of humiliation for Hindus, and its narrative that it is “shedding colonial baggage”. The second piece of legislation, the Telecommunications Act of 2023, seeks to modernise India’s century-old telecom law. But some experts warn the new bill will enable indiscriminate surveillance and erode privacy. The new set of crucial laws was passed without substantive debate in the parliament. Critics have accused the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pushing through laws in parliament without allowing it to adequately scrutinise them. The new criminal laws will be rolled out in phases by December 2024. The government has not yet notified the implementation of the Telecoms Act. Al Jazeera reached out to India’s home ministry and telecoms ministry for their response but did not hear from them until the time of publication. Here’s what we know about the new laws so far: What do the laws change — and do they threaten civil liberties? Police Custody: The period for which the police can seek direct custody of an accused — before she or he is sent to a jail — has been increased from 15 days to up to 60 days. “Courts have traditionally been extremely reluctant in granting bail when there is a possibility of police custody. Now that the window has increased, it may become even more difficult to get bail,” Bharat Chugh, a former judge at Delhi’s criminal courts and Supreme Court lawyer said. With at least 75 percent of prisoners in India’s overcrowded jails being under-trials (those whose trials are yet to begin), the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly emphasised “bail, not jail” as a rule. With courts hesitant to grant bail during the possibility of police custody, the change in law could have “grave implications for life and personal liberty”, said Chugh. Human rights activists have highlighted how most cases of torture usually happen in police custody. A 2020 report by the National Campaign Against Torture, a platform of NGOs, found that an average of five people die in custody each day in India, with some of them succumbing to torture in police or judicial custody. Convictions remain scarce. Delhi police officers asks a motorist to stop for checking at a checkpoint set up outside the Indian parliament in New Delhi, India [File: Altaf Qadri/AP Photo] Sedition: In 2022, India’s Supreme Court had temporarily suspended the 154-year-old law on sedition, a colonial-era provision that criminalises speech or actions against the government or authority with the possibility of a death sentence. Although the new criminal law makes no mention of the word “sedition” anywhere, experts have argued that it brings back a more draconian version through a back door. The new criminal code criminalises an even more vague action – acts that “endanger sovereignty or unity and integrity of India” – to punish offenders with seven years to life in jail. Experts say such an ambiguous definition of an offence is likely to be misused. Sedition laws are already commonly used against journalists, activists and political dissidents. “These expressions are indeed wide and not very precise,” Chugh, the former judge, said. “This gives too much power to the investigators. A criminal law, given that it impacts personal liberty, has to be specific, precise and unambiguous.” While the law clarifies that criticism of government actions is not an offence as long as it calls for change via lawful and democratic means, critics, including Chugh, argue that it “falls short”. Special offences in ordinary law: The new criminal statutes also incorporate special offences, such as “terrorism” and organised crime, governed by special laws, into ordinary criminal statutes without the accompanying safeguards. For instance, India’s special “anti-terror” Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967 (UAPA) requires prior sanction by the government and examination of all evidence by an independent authority to prosecute someone on “terrorism” charges. The new criminal statutes do not incorporate any such safeguard while bringing “terrorism” as an offence within them. Even with the — however few — safeguards, the UAPA, which prescribes stringent conditions to grant bail, has according to critics been misused by the government to imprison its critics for long periods. Experts fear that police may now choose to invoke ordinary criminal law over special laws to circumvent safeguards, leading to misuse. “This gives the police officers unchecked discretion to pick one law over the other, or in many cases, invoke both laws. This will lead to a multiplicity of litigation and sometimes, different courts arriving at different conclusions on the same set of facts/evidence,” Chugh said. Is it the end of colonial-era laws, as the government claims? Despite being dubbed “reforms,” experts Al Jazeera spoke to contend that the new laws mostly preserve provisions from their colonial-era counterparts, presenting an “old wine in a new bottle”. Chugh said the evidence law, which governs the admissibility of evidence in courts, sees almost no modifications. The penal code, which defines crimes and provides their punishments, incorporates only a few additional offences and the rearrangement of sections, he says. Some of the changes to the criminal procedure code, such
At least 17 people killed in explosion at Thai fireworks factory
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, The explosion takes place in a remote area as photos by rescue workers show debris and body parts. At least 17 people have been killed in an explosion at a fireworks factory in central Thailand. The explosion took place at about 3pm (08:00 GMT) in a remote area in the province of Suphan Buri, about 120km (74 miles) north of the capital, Bangkok, police said, according to a video shared with media of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin being briefed by telephone. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Photos posted online by local rescue workers in Suphan Buri showed the site, in an otherwise unoccupied rice field, levelled flat aside from debris and body parts, with a huge plume of black smoke rising above. The explosion came less than a month before Chinese New Year, which falls on February 10, when demand for fireworks is strong. ฝากท่านผู้ว่าฯสุพรรณบุรีช่วยเหลือทันที และขอแสดงความเสียใจกับครอบครัวและญาติผู้เสียชีวิตด้วยครับ https://t.co/CZynRJZRjo — Srettha Thavisin (@Thavisin) January 17, 2024 The provincial governor told the Reuters news agency that no survivors had yet been found. “There were deaths, we are checking how many people died,” police colonel Theerapoj Rawangban told the AFP news agency. “We do not see more damage toward other houses or people who live in the [nearby] community,” he added. Srettha expressed his condolences and issued an order to help the victims and families of the deceased. One worker was killed in an accident at the factory in November 2022. In July 2023, a large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 100, according to officials. Adblock test (Why?)
Two dead, dozens injured in explosion in southwest Nigeria
Oyo state governor said explosives stored by illegal miners triggered the blast on Tuesday evening. At least two people were killed and dozens injured when explosives stored at a private residence detonated in Nigeria’s southwest Oyo state, its governor said on Wednesday. Several houses collapsed from the impact of the blast on Tuesday evening in the Bodija area of the city of Ibadan, witnesses said, sending panicked residents into the streets. Residents said the impact was also felt in different parts of the city. In a statement, the governor, Seyi Makinde, said there were two deaths while 77 people were treated for injuries, most of them being discharged. “Preliminary investigations by the security agencies revealed that illegal miners occupying one of the houses in Bodija had stored explosive devices there which caused the blast,” Makinde added. Ibadan, 130km (80 miles) from Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos, is Nigeria’s third most populous city with four million people, but its largest by land mass. Makinde said search and rescue operations were under way and the state government would provide temporary accommodation for those who lost their homes. Adblock test (Why?)
Thai democracy activist sentenced to more jail time for ‘royal insults’
Lawyer Arnon Nampa is already serving a four-year sentence for comments about the monarchy made at a rally in 2020. A court in Thailand has sentenced a jailed activist and lawyer to four more years in prison for royal insults from a 2021 social media post, his lawyer said. Arnon Nampa, 39, was handed the four-year sentence on Wednesday in one of the country’s high-profile lese majeste cases. He is already serving a four-year sentence since September for his comments about the monarchy in a speech during a 2020 rally. “Arnon has denied wrongdoing,” his lawyer Kritsadang Nutcharat said, adding they would appeal and, if necessary, take the case to the Supreme Court. The two sentences would run consecutively, so Arnon is set to serve eight years. Thailand’s lese majeste law safeguards its palace from any criticism, with royal insults penalised for a maximum jail sentence of up to 15 years for each perceived insult. The law has been criticised by international human rights groups as extreme. The verdict on Wednesday is the second in 14 cases against Arnon, a human rights lawyer, who has led a democracy movement that held protests in Bangkok in 2020, calling for reform of the monarchy. He has chosen not to request bail for his cases and stayed in jail after the court rejected a previous request on the grounds that he would escape. At least 262 people have been charged with lese majeste offences since 2020, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal aid group. The verdict is a setback for groups seeking to amend the lese majeste law, which was a key policy proposal by the progressive Move Forward Party that won the most seats in parliament in May elections, but was blocked from forming a government by conservative lawmakers and an unelected Senate. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 103
EXPLAINER Israeli strikes kill 15 in southern Gaza as Japan’s shipping company suspends Red Sea operations amid escalating tensions. Here’s how things stand on Wednesday, January 17, 2024: Latest updates Qatar announced on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the increased entry of medical aid to Gaza. The agreement mediated by Qatar in cooperation with France will also ensure medication for captives in Gaza. Japanese shipping company, Nippon Yusen, which operates the Galaxy Leader ship seized by Yemen’s Houthis on November 19, announced on Wednesday that it is suspending operations in the Red Sea. On Tuesday night, the United States Senate voted against a resolution put forward by Senator Bernie Sanders, calling for the Department of State to report on Israel’s human rights practices. About 150 protesters from Mennonites Action, a Christian group, were arrested at the US Capitol building on Tuesday while calling for a ceasefire, US news outlets reported. Human impact and fighting At least 15 people were killed following Israeli attacks in Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza on Tuesday, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. An attack by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the armed group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Tuesday killed two children, according to Reuters news agency. It is unclear if the attack was linked to the regional escalation of Israel’s war on Gaza. In a statement released on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the attack from Iran, warning that the incident could have “serious consequences” and was “completely unacceptable”. Pakistan has also summoned an Iranian diplomat in Islamabad. Palestinian fighters carried out attacks from northern Gaza, which has been devastated by Israeli bombardment, according to a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) on Wednesday. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile attack on a Malta-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea on Tuesday as the US said it launched a new strike on Houthi targets in Yemen. Diplomacy World leaders have gathered in the Swiss Alps for the World Economic Forum’s annual Davos summit. The Israel-Gaza war is expected to be on the top of the agenda. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, speaking at the Davos summit on Tuesday, described the situation in the Middle East as a “recipe for escalation everywhere”. France will stick to its “defensive” approach in the Red Sea and stay out of the US-led air strikes on Houthi targets to avoid regional escalation of conflict, President Emmanuel Macron told a news conference on Tuesday. Israeli raids in West Bank Israeli forces continued with their deadly raids in the occupied West Bank. Their bulldozers destroyed streets and infrastructure in Tulkarem refugee camp on Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. An Israeli drone strike on a car in the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, killed one Palestinian on Wednesday. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Israeli forces fired at ambulances that were attempting to reach the burning vehicle. Adblock test (Why?)