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Future

TikTok Fears Over China Miss The Real Danger: All Social Media

Safety or addiction concerns about TikTok are very real. But would U.S. elected officials seek to ban or control this social network if it were not Chinese? Are U.S. social networks less harmful? For France Inter, Pierre Haski warns us to take a step back when pointing the finger at TikTok.

-Analysis-

PARIS — When the first threats to ban the social network TikTok appeared in the United States, one U.S. lawmaker worried about being "hated by an entire generation!”

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Founded in 2016, TikTok is indeed the singular standout social network of recent years, with more than one billion users around the world, the majority of whom are young people, with another one billion if we count the Chinese version Douyin. The United States, meanwhile, counts 170 million TikTok users, compared to the 20 million in France.

But TikTok is Chinese, and that's the problem. And those same problems are spreading outside the United States. India and its billion-and-a-half inhabitants banned TikTok in 2020, two weeks after a deadly incident on the Chinese border. For Delhi, the app posed a security risk.

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LGBTQ Plus

As Colombia Debates "Conversion Therapy" Ban, One Gay Man Shares His Story Of Survival

As Colombia debates banning the abusive practice of "conversion therapy," a Colombian teacher recalls the four years of therapy he undertook as teenager and his path to self-acceptance.

BOGOTÁ — Anguish is the word David Zuluaga, a 26-year-old Colombian, uses to describe his teenage years, when he realized he was attracted to men. Having always heard of homosexuality as a sin, he could barely process his own orientation. And he came to conclude that this was a problem to be fixed.

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On March 19, Colombia's lower legislative chamber began to debate a draft law banning so-called conversion therapies known in Colombia as Efforts to Change Expressions of Sexual Orientation, Identity or Gender (ECOSIEG). The bill, known as Inconvertibles ("Unchangeable"), would prevent all forceful and abusive measures on members of the various gay communities (the LGBTIQ+ collective), with the pretext of curing individuals of their sexual orientation or gender identity.


If approved — after several debates and a vote in the Senate — and promulgated, the law would make Colombia the ninth country in the world to ban such practices.

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Geopolitics

Why Tajiks Are Easy Prey For Islamic Jihadists

Tajiks are responsible for numerous Islamist terrorist attacks in recent months. Suspects in the devastating attack in Moscow also come from the Central Asian country. Open access to Russia, difficult economic conditions, and a secular dictatorship that has repressed religion at home are among the factors that contribute to the radicalization of Tajiks.

-Analysis-

Following the devastating attack in Moscow, several Tajiks are in custody in Russia as suspects. In early January, a suspected Tajik suicide bomber carried out an attack at the tomb of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in the Iranian city of Kerman, killing almost 100 people. At the end of last year, Tajiks were arrested in Germany and Austria in connection with planned attacks on Cologne Cathedral and St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.

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According to experts, Tajiks and their family members form a minority within the Central Asian terrorist group ISIS-Khorasan (ISPK) — an offshoot of the terrorist militia of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) — which is believed to comprise up to 6,000 fighters. A few hundred fighters are said to have sworn allegiance to the group.

But their small number cannot hide the fact: for the terrorist organization, radical Islamic Tajiks are a kind of universal weapon.

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Women Worldwide

Nubian Queen Revolt: Sudanese Women Fight Against The Use Of Rape As Weapon Of War

Violence against women, including rape, has been widespread in the war in Sudan, especially in the western region of Darfur. Now the women who led the uprising that toppled Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 are fighting to stop wartime sexual violence.

The Sudanese Revolution, which led to the coup against former President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019, paved the way for Sudanese women, called "Kendake," to play a key role in the subsequent political movement.

Kendake means Nubian Queen in the ancient Kush civilization. And that nickname has accompanied Sudanese women as country's civil war has escalated. Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023, when clashes between the military led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum.

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The nearly year-long conflict has killed more than 12,000 people, injured over 33,000, displaced nearly 7 million, and put the African nation on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis, according to the UN. The UN has also reported violence against women and girls, including sexual violence and rape and gang rape, has been widespread especially in the western region of Darfur, which was the scene of a genocide in 2000s.

Sudanese women have become victims, political activists, rights defenders, who campaign for women, children and displaced people. They have not surrendered to the rights violations and the cycles of murder and rape that have befallen them.

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LA STAMPA

Israeli Hostages In Gaza: What Their Relatives Think Of A Ceasefire Deal

Another deal that would see Israeli hostages released has fallen through. Six months into the war in Gaza — and six months without their loved ones — where do the family members of the Oct. 7 hostages stand on the war and the negotiations?

On Monday, the UN Security Council demanded an immediate ceasefire for the first time as well as the release of all hostages. Of the 252 hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack, 130 remain unaccounted for following a series of releases, rescues and the recovery of bodies. At least 30 hostages are presumed dead.

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Then on Tuesday night, relatives of an Israeli held captive in Gaza were reportedly among those arrested by police at a protest in Tel Aviv, after the latest talks on a truce and the release of hostages broke down. Israel said that Hamas’s rejection of a current proposal for a Gaza truce deal is proof of the “damage” done by the UN Security Council resolution.

On Wednesday, relatives of an Israeli held captive in Gaza were reportedly among protesters arrested by police in Tel Aviv, after the latest talks on a ceasefire and exchange of prisoners and hostages broke down. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid commented on X that the state "should show much more compassion and sensitivity to the families of the hostages".

Over the six months of war in Gaza — and six months without their loved ones — family members of the Israeli hostages have spoken to the media, notably in the U.S. and in Italy, hoping to make their voices heard. Here are some of those voices.

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In The News

Is Gaza Starvation A War Crime?, Smartphone Automaker, Japanese Food Names

👋 ꦲꦭꦺꦴ*

Welcome to Thursday, where the UN human rights chief says starvation in Gaza could amount to a war crime, Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi gets into EV business and the Oxford English Dictionary adds 23 Japanese words to its latest edition. Meanwhile, Guillaume de Calignon in French daily Les Echos explores how Africa’s economic giant Nigeria is mired in crisis.

[*Halo - Javanese, Indonesia]

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This Happened

This Happened - March 28: Three Mile Island Accident

Updated March 28, 2024 at 12:40 p.m.

On this day in 1979, a nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania experienced a partial meltdown due to a combination of equipment malfunctions, operator errors, and design flaws. As a result, radioactive gas was released into the environment, and the plant had to be shut down permanently.

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Ideas

The Unifying Power Of Art In A World Divided By Religion And Morality

Political battle lines are becoming increasingly entrenched, and opposing views are being pushed towards ever greater extremes. Language has become a battlefield. If morality pushes us apart, and religion does not help in the process, we may find a solution in our sense of humanity, writes German psychiatrist Manfred Lütz in Die Welt.

-Essay-

BERLIN — In the Middle Ages, people didn’t read texts about the meaning of life. Most of them couldn’t read at all, and they saw the meaning of life in the images in their churches. Academics have recently started speaking about the “iconic turn”, the return of images, and it is true that the Instagram generation prefers to communicate visually. Could pictures offer a way for our deeply divided society to come together once again?

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Both in terms of foreign and domestic policy, political views are becoming increasingly entrenched, and on both sides of the debate, opposing views are being pushed towards ever greater extremes. In the world of today, many people are cut off from any contact with those who think differently, living in echo chambers, surrounded by people who confirm their worldview. When those who disagree with their position condemn them from a moral perspective, this only serves to vitalize the group under attack.

The public pillorying that dominates social media can be a cause of great anxiety for individuals. But for those who feel they are part of a community, their fear often transforms into an aggressive form of self-defense. The topic itself isn’t as important as the sense of being attacked.

That is a possible psychological explanation for a strange phenomenon, whereby attacks on groups such as the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and some of their individual members have strengthened the sense of community within these groups and brought together a surprising mix of people, from radical free marketeers to nationalists, conspiracy theorists, pro-lifers, COVID deniers, right-wing extremists, conservative Christians and racists.

They are united by a single experience, that of being excluded. Conversations within these groups are reminiscent of chats around a pub table: the more harshly someone criticizes “those in power”, “the lefties”, “right-wingers” or even, “the others”, the more likes they get.

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Geopolitics

Senegal Elections: Has France Finally Learned Its Lesson In Françafrique?

The surprise election of Bassirou Diomaye Faye appears to be a wakeup call for French President Emmanuel Macron.

-Analysis-

PARIS — Even before the official results were announced, French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday extended his congratulations to Bassirou Diomaye Faye, the just elected incoming president of Senegal, adding that he is “looking forward to working with him.”

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Macron’s message is highly political and goes beyond the ritual congratulations to a foreign president. There is a double meaning: On one hand, he praises the democratic feat that Senegal has just achieved after several weeks of political chaos that had led to fears of serious violence. On the other hand, it shows that France has begun to learn the lessons of its repeated failures in Françafrique, French-speaking Africa.

The truth is, Faye's victory caught France off guard. The winner of the first round, with 57% of the vote, claims to be the candidate of the “rupture.” A break with the political elite that has dominated Senegal since its independence in 1960; but also, and this goes hand in hand with it, a break with the French influence that has shaped post-colonial Senegal.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Gaza's Fishermen Risk Israeli Navy Shelling To Feed Their Families

Fishermen in war-torn Gaza are risking their lives by entering the Mediterranean despite relentless Israeli naval bombing. They say they have no option to feed their children amid a looming famine in the strip.

RAFAH — In the early morning hours, fisherman Muhammad Bardawil arranges his fishing nets and places them on his tiny boat to begin his daily journey off Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah. He knows that this trip could be his last; he could be killed by Israeli shells.

But Bardawil does not think about this risk. He is focused on rowing out 500 meters — the distance Israel allows Gaza fishermen —to cast out his nets, and on his hopes of catching fish to feed his starving children — and to sell any extra. Bardawil said he catches about 5 kilograms (11lbs.) of sardines (a favorite among Gaza residents), some shrimp and tuna. He sells 4 kg and saves 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) for his family.

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Bardawil has survived shelling by the Israeli navy multiple times; yet the Palestinian fisherman with a pale face persists. Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Palestinians are allowed to fish up to 20 nautical miles off Gaza.

Yet the Nizar Ayyash, the head of the Palestinian Fishermen's Association, said Israel's restrictions and attacks on Palestinian fisherfolk have existed for 17 years and have become part of the Israel-Hamas war. Israel's navy has destroyed many fishing boats and prevented the repair of remaining boats, Ayyash said.

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In The News

Israel vs. UN Resolution, Hungary Graft Protests, Malaga’s Holy Procession

👋 Grüss Gott!*

Welcome to Wednesday, where Israel says the UN resolution is damaging ceasefire talks, protests erupt in Hungary after a leaked conversation hints at high-level corruption, and Holy Week celebrations are up in the Malaga ’hood. Meanwhile, as Poland considers lowering the voting age to 16, Worldcrunch’s Katarzyna Skiba takes a look at the lessons learned from other such attempts around the world.

[*Swabian, Germany]

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Geopolitics

Shia Cleric Or Revolutionary Guards? How Khamenei Succession Will Play Out Inside Iran

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, now 84, has been in power since 1989. What will happen when he dies? His death may lead to a hybrid military-Islamic regime, with members of the Revolutionary Guards imposing a more pragmatic yet equally corrupt regime. It is time for the opposition to find a unified leader they can rally behind and that can help mobilize Iranians in the transition.

-Analysis-

As Iran's aging leader Ali Khamenei moves inexorably to the end of his life, there is acute interest in who or what type of leadership will succeed him. Will Shia clerics elect a successor using the institutional procedures that put Khamenei himself into office (in June 1989), or will the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which already have a grip on numerous institutions and business sectors, grab power? Either way, ordinary Iranians and the reformist and opposition groups that would represent them, will have little say in this jostling between internal power-brokers.

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As I have written before, the Leader's death at a time of marked domestic and foreign hostility to the Islamic Republic will be a delicate moment, but the regime has shown it has all the gall and lack of scruples needed to weather history's squalls. Opponents should not imagine, as they understandably did in past decades, that the death of a key figure could bring this outfit crashing down.

As the regime takes stock of the dismally low voter turnout in the parliamentary elections of early March and tires of its useless efforts to win popular legitimacy, Khamenei's successors may turn to one of several options.

They may firstly decide to end decades of institutional and electoral theater meant to give credence to the regime's claim that it is a republic; secondly, reveal the 'trump card' of a nuclear bomb in a bid to force the West to deal with the regime more respectfully, as it does with Pakistan and North Korea; or thirdly, engineer an overhaul that will strip the clergy of powers in favor of Revolutionary Guards officers.

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