Mexico becomes first country to approve popular election of judges

World

September 12, 2024

National Action Party Senator Miguel Angel Yunes addresses lawmakers in the legislature's upper house at the National Congress in Mexico City. PHOTO: AFP

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Mexico became the world’s first country to allow voters to elect judges at all levels yesterday, after protesters invaded the Upper House and suspended debate on the issue.

Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had pushed hard for the reform and criticised the current judicial system for serving the interests of the political and economic elite.

The reform was approved with 86 votes in favour and 41 against, garnering the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution, in an Upper Chamber dominated by the ruling Morena party and its allies.

Debate on the reform had sparked mass demonstrations, diplomatic tensions and investor jitters.

Senate leader Gerardo Fernandez Norona declared a recess after demonstrators stormed the Upper House and entered the Chamber, chanting “The judiciary will not fall”.

Lawmakers were forced to move to a former Senate building, where they resumed their debate as demonstrators outside shouted “Mr Senator, stop the dictator!”

Obrador, who wanted the bill approved before he is replaced by close ally Claudia Sheinbaum on October 1, said that protesters were protecting the interests of the political elite. “What most worries those who are against this reform is that they will lose their privileges, because the judiciary is at the service of the powerful, at the service of white-collar crime,” the leftist leader said at a news conference.

Opponents, including court employees and law students, have held a series of protests against the plan, under which even Supreme Court and other high-level judges, as well as those at the local level, would be chosen by popular vote.

Around 1,600 judges would have to stand for election in 2025 or 2027.

“This does not exist in any other country,” said United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite.

“In some countries, such as the United States, some state judges are elected, and in others, such as in Bolivia, high-level judges are elected,” she told AFP.

Mexico’s overhaul puts it “in a unique position in terms of its method for judicial selection,” Satterthwaite said ahead of the vote.

In an unusual public warning, Supreme Court chief justice Norma Pina said that elected judges could be more vulnerable to pressure from criminals, in a country where powerful drug cartels regularly bribe and intimidate officials.

“The demolition of the judiciary is not the way forward,” she said in a video released on Sunday.

Bridge partially collapses in Germany’s Dresden

World

September 12, 2024

The partially collapsed Carola Bridge (Carolabruecke) on the Elbe river in the city centre of Dresden in eastern Germany. PHOTO: AFP

FRANKFURT (AFP) – A bridge partially collapsed in the eastern German city of Dresden, authorities said yesterday, adding that no one was injured but there was a risk of further sections crumbling.

A roughly 100-metre section of the Carola Bridge, which connects Dresden’s historic old town to other parts of the city, plunged into the Elbe River around 3am, the Dresden fire brigade said.

The entire area around the bridge has been sealed off.

Residents have been urged to stay away amid concerns other parts of the bridge could come crashing down. “There is still an acute danger to life and risk of collapse,” fire brigade spokesman Michael Klahre said in a video message on social media channels.

Nobody was on or under the bridge at the time of the collapse.

“We are extremely relieved that nobody was injured,” spokeswoman Barbara Knifka for Dresden city authorities told the Bild newspaper.

The cause of the collapse remains unknown.

Rescue services and other experts were at the scene to assess the damage and secure the bridge, Klahre said.

Drones were being flown over the bridge to help get a clearer picture of the damage, Klahre added.

The part of the bridge that fell down contained the section dedicated to tram lines and pedestrian traffic. The section for road vehicles was not affected.

The partial collapse also damaged two major heating pipes, cutting off district heating in the city. Residents would likely be without warm water for the day, Klahre said.

The Carola Bridge is one of Dresden’s main crossings. It was completed in 1971 and is named after the wife of King Albert of Saxony.

A life-changing discovery

Lifestyle

September 12, 2024

PARIS (AFP) – In the total darkness of the depths of the Pacific Ocean, scientists have discovered oxygen being produced not by living organisms but by strange potato-shaped metallic lumps that give off almost as much electricity as AA batteries.

The surprise finding has many potential implications and could even require rethinking how life first began on Earth, the researchers behind a new study said on Monday.

It had been thought that only living things such as plants and algae were capable of producing oxygen via photosynthesis – which requires sunlight.

But four kilometres below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, where no sunlight can reach, small mineral deposits called polymetallic nodules have been recorded making so-called dark oxygen for the first time.

The discovery was made in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), an abyssal plain stretching between Hawaii and Mexico, where mining companies have plans to start harvesting the nodules.

The lumpy nodules – often called “batteries in a rock” – are rich in metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese, which are all used in batteries, smartphones, wind turbines and solar panels.

The international team of scientists sent a small vessel to the floor of the CCZ aiming to find out how mining could impact the strange and little understood animals living where no light can reach.

“We were trying to measure the rate of oxygen consumption by the seafloor,” lead study author Andrew Sweetman of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) told AFP.

To do so, they used a contraption called a benthic chamber which snatched up a bunch of sediment.

Normally, the amount of oxygen trapped in the chamber “decreases as its used up by organisms as they respire”, Sweetman said.

But this time the opposite happened – the amount of oxygen increased. This was not supposed to happen in complete darkness where there is no photosynthesis.

This was so shocking that the researchers initially thought their underwater sensors must have been on the blink.

So they brought up some nodules to their ship to repeat the test. Once again, the amount of oxygen increased.

They then noticed how the nodules were carrying a startling electric change.

On the surface of the nodules, the team “amazingly found voltages almost as high as are in an AA battery,” Sweetman said.

This charge could split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called seawater electrolysis, the researchers said.

This chemical reaction occurs at around 1.5 volts – around the charge of a AA battery.

SAMS director Nicholas Owens said it was “one of the most exciting findings in ocean science in recent times”.

The discovery of oxygen produced outside of photosynthesis “requires us to rethink how the evolution of complex life on the planet might have originated,” he said in a statement.

“The conventional view is that oxygen was first produced around three billion years ago by ancient microbes called cyanobacteria and there was a gradual development of complex life thereafter,” Owens added.

But the team’s discovery showed that “life could have started elsewhere than on land,” Sweetman said.

“And, if the process is happening on our planet, could it be helping to generate oxygenated habitats on other ocean worlds such as Enceladus and Europa and providing the opportunity for life to exist?” Sweetman asked.

The study was published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The work was partly funded by Canada’s The Metals Company, which is aiming to start mining the nodules in the CCZ next year.

Sweden gets new foreign minister after Billström’s shocking departure

World

September 12, 2024

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Sweden's new Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard at a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden. PHOTO: AP

COPENHAGEN (AP) – A new foreign minister was named in Sweden on Tuesday, nearly a week after the post was vacated in a surprise resignation.

The move to appoint Maria Malmer Stenegard, 43, came after Tobias Billström said on September 4 that he was leaving the government in a shock departure. Malmer Stenegard had previously been migration minister.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also made other changes to his center-right government as part of a Cabinet shakeup.

Johan Forssell, who was development minister, takes up the migration portfolio vacated by Malmer Stenegard. Benjamin Dousa replaces Forssell as development minister.

The Swedish government leader also tapped Jessica Rosencrantz as the new European Union affairs minister. She replaces Jessika Roswall, who was nominated as Sweden’s new European Union commissioner in July.

All are members of Kristersson’s conservative Moderates party.

Finally, two Liberal ministers swapped roles: Johan Pehrson became education and research minister, while Mats Persson became minister for employment and integration.

In October 2022, Kristersson formed a centre-right, minority Cabinet with his own Moderates, the Liberals and the Democrats. It was relying on Sweden Democrats, the populist party with far-right roots that supports the government but isn’t a part of it.

Scientists confirm no ‘human era’ in Earth’s geological history

Lifestyle

September 12, 2024

PARIS (AFP) – A top panel of geologists has decided not to grant the ‘human age’ its own distinct place in Earth’s geological timeline after disagreeing over when exactly our era might have begun.

After 15 years of deliberation, a team of scientists made the case that humankind has so fundamentally altered the natural world that a new phase of Earth’s existence – a new epoch – has already begun.

Soaring greenhouse gases, the spread of microplastics, decimation of other species, and fallout from nuclear tests – all were submitted as evidence that the world entered the Anthropocene, or era of humans, in the mid-20th Century.

But the proposal was rejected in a contentious vote that has been upheld by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the field’s governing body said in a statement published on its website.

The decision “to reject the proposal for an Anthropocene Epoch as a formal unit of the Geologic Time Scale is approved”, it said.

There is no avenue for appeal, though some involved in the voting committee have raised allegations over the conduct of the ballot and a perceived lack of due process.

The union denied these assertions and called the outcome “a decisive rejection of the Anthropocene proposal” by the field’s pre-eminent experts.

There were four votes in favour, 12 against and three abstentions, it added.

Despite this, the Anthropocene would endure as a widely used term: “It will remain an invaluable descriptor of human impact on the Earth system,” the union said.

In 2009 scientists began an enquiry that ultimately concluded that the Holocene epoch – which began 11,700 years ago as the last ice age ended – gave way to the Anthropocene around 1950.

They gathered a trove of evidence to show this, including traces of radioactive material found in the layered sediment of lakes, the global upheaval of plants and animals, and omnipresent “forever chemicals”.

But opponents argued mankind had been reshaping the planet long before the 1950s, pointing to defining moments like the advent of farming and the industrial revolution.

Martin Head, who was part of the team that advocated for the Anthropocene, said there was “a myriad of geological signals” and lamented the way the process was handled. “I feel this has been a missed opportunity to recognise and endorse a simple reality, that our planet left its natural functioning state in the mid-20th Century,” Head told AFP.

There was no disagreement that ‘the age of man’ had resulted in profound planetary changes, said an environmental scientist critical of the Anthropocene proposal Erle Ellis.

But scientists weren’t convinced this impact represented an epoch, no less one that definitively began only seven decades ago, said the professor of geography and environmental systems.

France foiled three attack plots targeting Paris Olympics, says prosecutor

World

September 12, 2024

File photo show police at the Summer Olympics at Marseille Stadium in Marseille, France. PHOTO: AP

PARIS (AP) – French authorities foiled three plots to attack the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and other cities that hosted the summer events, national counterterrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen said yesterday.

In all, five people, including a minor, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the three foiled plots against the Summer Games. The suspects are facing various terrorism-related charges while they remain in pretrial detention, the prosecutor said.

France was on its highest security alert in the months ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics, which wrapped up last week. During preparations for the Games, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin repeatedly warned that security threats, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks or other adversaries.

In May, members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack Olympic soccer events that were held in the southern city of Saint-Etienne. The planned attack was to target an “establishments around the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium,” the prosecutor said. The suspect is accused of planning “a violent action”.

Threats dominated the foiled plots and 80 per cent of legal proceedings against suspects include the extremist ideology that still influences France’s youth, the prosecutor said.

Palestinian medics say five killed in Israeli strikes on West Bank

World

September 12, 2024

File photo show Palestinians mourn relatives killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. PHOTO: AFP

RAMALLAH (AFP) – The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli strikes in the occupied West Bank yesterday killed five Palestinians, while the Israeli military said it hit a “terrorist cell”.

The five people were killed “as a result of Israeli air strikes (on) a group of citizens in Tubas,” Palestinian Red Crescent spokesman Ahmed Jibril told AFP, adding that the dead were “transferred to the Turkish government hospital in Tubas”.

According to the Red Crescent, the drone fire occurred near a mosque in the Tubas region around dawn. The Israeli military said yesterday that its forces were “currently conducting counterterrorism activity in the area of Tubas and Tamun” and that one of its aircraft “struck an armed terrorist cell” during an operation in Tubas in the northern West Bank. It did not provide any toll.

An eyewitness told AFP that Israeli forces were “storming the city of Tubas and the town of Tammun to the east”.

At the end of August, Israel launched a large-scale offensive across the northern West Bank, including the Tubas area, fighting Palestinian militants and leaving widespread destruction.

Last week, Palestinian medics said an Israeli air strike on a car in Tubas killed five people.

The Israeli army said at the time it had conducted “three targeted strikes on armed terrorists.

Science vs granny: Debunking old wives’ tales

Lifestyle

September 12, 2024

ANN/THE STAR – Generational stories are often mere old wives’ tales, lacking truth or scientific backing.

With modern medical and technological advances, we now realise many were shaped by their time, culture, or meant to scare children from misbehaving.

For instance, Chinese women during confinement are subject to many taboos but knowing what we know now, and how some of these hand-me-down so-called “nuggets of wisdom” came from abroad, they may not apply to us as we live in the tropics and have easy access to modern hospitals and treatments.

While we don’t want to dismiss everything we hear, it’s probably best to take things with a pinch of salt. Here are some common myths:

GRAPEFRUIT HELPS YOU LOSE WEIGHT

There’s some truth to this as the fruit has many nutrients and increases metabolic rate. A member of the citrus family, grapefruit is high in vitamin C and minerals, and contains naringenin, an antioxidant that helps the body with the breaking down of insulin.

Those looking to shed some weight often add grapefruit to their diet as they believe it improves calorie burn. While it’s a step in the right direction towards a healthy diet, it’s not about to make you lose kilos overnight.

CRANBERRY JUICE HELPS PREVENT UTI

Urinary tract infection can be a real pain and women are often told to drink cranberry juice to ease or even prevent the symptoms. While cranberry juice may be overall good for bladder health, it doesn’t work for everyone. And certainly, if you’ve already got a full-blown infection, it’s best to consult a doctor to alleviate the symptoms before it gets worse and affects your kidneys.

Research has shown that cranberries are thought to have properties that make it harder for bacteria to stick to the urinary tract walls. But you really have to drink a lot to have a real effect.

CARROT CAN IMPROVE YOUR EYESIGHT

Every child growing up has probably been told this some time or other. It sounds like a tall one but there is an ounce of truth to it. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene which can help the body with vitamin A and nourish the eye.

But to see a real difference (pun intended) in your eyesight, you really have to eat a truckload of carrots, by which time your skin will probably turn yellow first due to the natural pigmentation.

CHEWING GUM STAYS IN THE STOMACH FOR SEVEN YEARS

One of the silliest dares kids used to do (or maybe still do) is to challenge each other to swallow chewing gum. And it’s horrifying as we’re told it’ll stay in the tummy as a lump for seven long years! But that’s not possible as most likely it’ll just pass through the body system along the way.

EXPECTANT MOTHERS SHOULD AVOID SPICY FOOD

Mothers-to-be have the hardest time as there’s a whole list of taboos which they have to adhere to, otherwise their offspring will suffer for it, or so they’ve been told. Besides the old wives’ caution that expectant mothers should not harm scaly animals or else their child will have scaly skin, pregnant women have been told to avoid spicy food as it might trigger early labour.

Now, this doesn’t sound so far-fetched and may have a tiny element of truth, no? Wrong! Spicy food is 100 per cent safe and won’t harm the baby at all, though there’s a chance it might trigger heartburn or indigestion for the mother.

LEFTOVER RICE WILL GIVE YOU A PIMPLE-FACED SPOUSE

Hands up all of you who were told as children to finish all your rice, otherwise your future husband/wife will have a face full of pimples! A superstition handed down by your grandmother and probably your grandmother’s grandmother, there’s absolutely no truth to this as we all know acne and pimples are a result of hormone imbalance, one’s diet and skin that hasn’t been cleansed properly.

Rice is a staple in most typical Asian households and during hard times, leaving food on the plate was a habit that wouldn’t have been tolerated.

Nowadays, we live in societies that are trying hard to curb food wastage and many are cutting rice from their daily diet to reduce carb intake.

SWALLOW SEEDS AND A TREE WILL GROW IN YOUR STOMACH

Another old wives’ tale probably fed to children to make them be more careful when eating watermelon, oranges and other fruits that have small seeds. There’s no truth whatsoever to this silly piece of advice.

Although, in 2009, it was the strangest thing when a Russian man who was coughing badly and experiencing chest pains discovered a fir tree growing in his lungs! But it was a medical abnormality not to be repeated, so we should stop scaring kids with this! – Patsy Kam

South Korea’s corporate revenue keeps growing in Q2

Business

September 12, 2024

XINHUA – South Korea’s corporate revenue kept growing in the second quarter thanks to solid global demand for locally-made semiconductors, central bank data showed yesterday.

Revenue for 11,651 manufacturers and 11,486 non-manufacturers subject to external audit, excluding financial firms, increased 5.3 per cent in the April-June quarter from a year earlier after growing 1.2 per cent in the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea. Sales by manufacturers gained 7.3 per cent in the second quarter, faster than an expansion of 3.3 per cent in the first quarter.

Revenue in the machinery, electrical and electronic sector, including chipmakers, surged 20.7 per cent in the second quarter, with those in the petrochemical and the transport equipment sectors rising in single digits.

Kane celebrates 100th cap with brace as England sink Finland

Sports

September 12, 2024

England’s Harry Kane celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal during the UEFA Nations League match against Finland at Wembley Stadium in London, England. PHOTO: XINHUA

AFP – Harry Kane celebrated his 100th England cap in memorable style as the striker’s superb double sealed a 2-0 win against Finland in the Nations League yesterday.

England captain Kane struck with a pair of eye-catching finishes in the second half at Wembley to mark the latest landmark in his remarkable career.

The 31-year-old is the 10th man to reach a century of England appearances, joining the likes of David Beckham and Bobby Moore in the exclusive club.

Goalkeeper Peter Shilton holds England’s caps record with 125 appearances, while Wayne Rooney is the country’s most capped outfield player on 120, and it would be little surprise if Kane passed both of them.

He is only the third England player to score on their 100th appearance after Rooney against Slovenia in 2014 and Bobby Charlton against Northern Ireland in 1970.

Kane became England’s record scorer in March 2023 and the Bayern Munich striker now has 68 goals for his country.

Inspired by the longevity of Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo, who recently scored his 901st career goal, and NFL legend Tom Brady, Kane shows no signs of easing up in his record-setting career.

Harry Kane celebrates after his goal against Finland in the Nations League. PHOTO: XINHUA

It was a perfect night for the former Tottenham star, who led England onto the pitch alongside his two children before kick-off and was presented with a commemorative gold cap by fellow Three Lions centurions Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.

“His finishing is very good, even in training. It’s not a surprise when he scores goals as his habits are so good,” England interim boss Lee Carsley said.

“The way he trains and conducts himself, he is a great example for the rest of the players.”

While Kane took the spotlight, it was also another encouraging game for Carsley, who oversaw a 2-0 victory against Ireland in his first game in charge on Saturday.

Carsley is the first England manager to win his first two competitive games since Fabio Capello in 2008.

The 50-year-old, who replaced Southgate following his resignation after the Euro 2024 final loss to Spain, has deployed an attacking game-plan that stands in stark contrast to his predecessor’s conservative tactics.

Whether that will be enough to earn him the job on a permanent basis remains to be seen, but his impressive start has given the Football Association food for thought before England return to action against Greece in October.

“I’m totally relaxed about the situation. I have got to do a good job,” Carsley said.

“We have shown ourselves that we can do it. We can put ideas in place and the players have responded really well.” Showing faith in the players he worked with as England Under-21 coach, Carsley gave a first Three Lions start to Lille midfielder Angel Gomes, who gave a made solid impact, while Chelsea winger Noni Madueke set up Kane’s second goal after coming off the bench for his debut.

Carsley’s previous visit to Wembley was to watch Bruce Springsteen earlier this year and, while England might not have put on a show to match the other ‘Boss’, they had a headline act of their own in Kane. Wearing gold boots, Kane turned the Nations League Group B2 tie in rain-lashed north London into the latest demonstration of his midas touch.

Borneo Bulletin OnlineThe Independent Newspaper in Brunei Darussalam, Sabah and Sarawak

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