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What's the point of buying the latest smartphone?
Catagory:Education
Author:
Posted Date:09/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Happy new smartphone season to all who celebrate. It’s that time of year again, when the tech giants pull out all the stops to persuade you to upgrade your gadgets. Recently we’ve seen Google launch the latest Pixel 9 handsets, followed by Apple unveiling the iPhone 16. In July, Samsung released the latest versions of its foldable phones, the Z Flip6 and Z Fold6, and Huawei has just upped the ante in that department by unveiling a handset called the Mate XT, in China, which contains two folds, folding the screen into thirds. With smartphone sales slowing worldwide, the marketing messages getting pushed out are increasingly dazzling. Apple boss Tim Cook promised that the iPhone16 would “redefine what a smartphone would do”, whatever that means. Google product management vice president Brian Rakowski waxed lyrical about the “stunning” design of the “gorgeous” Pixel 9 (whisper it: it still looks a lot like a black rectangle to me). Huawei now has its own consumer brand song, it says in its press material, which “powerfully expresses the pursuit of dreams, highlighting that every breakthrough and success the company has achieved stems from a belief in dreams”. Yes, we are still talking about phones. Both Apple and Google have gone big on baked-in AI features. Google’s new Magic Editor can add AI generated content into existing photos, as well as remove the bits you don’t want (with varying degrees of success, in my experience). Apple Intelligence on the iPhone16 includes ChatGPT-maker OpenAI’s tech being embedded into the digital assistant Siri – which many argue has long been in need of an update. But has anyone actually said that they want all of this stuff?Mobile phone expert Ben Wood, from research firm CCS Insight, said that while AI features aim to make digital life easier, they’re not necessarily on top of everybody’s wish list. “I think that most people now know what they want from a phone, with one of the most important things being the camera,” he says. The phone designers also know this. The tech spec of every new handset camera is usually an improvement on the previous generation. But even this isn’t a guaranteed sales generator any more. “What is definitely happening is that people are holding on to their phones for longer. Back in 2013 there were 30 million phones sold annually,” adds Mr Wood. “This year it will be around 13.5 million.” There is of course an ongoing cost of living crisis affecting people’s spending decisions. And there’s also an environmental price tag attached to every handset, all of which contain rare elements and precious metals. In addition, there is a growing trend, especially among parents and young people, to try to step away from smartphones entirely. A number of UK schools are reviewing their smartphone policies, and a few have already opted for an outright ban. Pupils starting at the public school Eton this term were issued feature phones (sometimes, rather unpopularly known as dumb phones), and I have heard of several other institutions, both in the private and state sectors, which are considering following suit. The mobile phone network EE recommends that children below the age of 11 shouldn’t have smartphones at all. Nova East leads the north and west London branch of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, which urges parents and schools to collaborate to delay the age at which children are given the devices. “We are not anti-tech, we are just pro-childhood,” she says. “We would like to see tech companies develop a child friendly phone, offering only essential features such as calls, messaging, music, and maps, without any additional functionalities.”Dr Sasha Luccioni, a research scientist at the AI firm Hugging Face, says that so far, this message does not seem to be getting through. “There’s increased talk of ‘digital sobriety’ in the way we build and use technology – but it sounds like smartphone designers are going in the exact opposite direction,” she says. I put this to Apple, Google and Samsung. The latter said: "Samsung users can choose how they use their Galaxy phones that best fits their needs. For example, digital wellbeing features allow users to select what features they use, when they use them and for how long, such as setting a screen time limit on specific apps they want to restrict." One company that is listening to the growing calls for reduced phone functionality is the Finnish firm HMD – which still makes basic Nokia handsets. Last month it launched a Barbie-themed phone in collaboration with toymaker Mattel, and I tried it out. The two words I would use to describe it are: functional. And pink. Like most feature phones, it has no apps, no app store, no selfie camera, and only one game. If you want to listen to music there’s an FM radio. CCS Insight forecasts that around 400,000 feature phones are likely to be sold in the UK this year – nowhere near enough to knock the iPhone off the top of the list of the world’s most-sold handsets any time soon, but not a bad market space. I just checked my own screentime over the past seven days, and I averaged around five hours per day, This is admittedly a sobering statistic – but it wasn’t all doomscrolling (honest). My phone is a work tool, it’s also what I use for banking, shopping, directions, health tracking and keeping track of family plans, as well as, yes, gaming and social media. “I think the thing we always forget is that there's a tremendous amount of benefits from using smartphones,” says Pete Etchells, professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa university, who has written extensively about the issue of screen time. “We tend to focus a lot more on the negatives. It's always worth bearing in mind that these are technologies of convenience. They help us. There are some good aspects to them as well.”


Type:Technology
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Mohamed Al Fayed accused of multiple rapes by staff
Catagory:Reading
Author:
Posted Date:09/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Five women say they were raped by former Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed when they worked at the luxury London department store. The BBC has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex-employees who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them - including rape. The documentary and podcast - Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods - gathered evidence that, during Fayed’s ownership, Harrods not only failed to intervene, but helped cover up abuse allegations. Harrods’ current owners said they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations and that his victims had been failed - for which the store sincerely apologised. “The spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark,” says barrister Bruce Drummond, from a legal team representing a number of the women. Warning: this story contains details some may find distressing. The incidents took place in London, Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi. “I made it obvious that I didn't want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over,” says one of the women, who says Fayed raped her at his Park Lane apartment. Another woman says she was a teenager when he raped her at the Mayfair address. “Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever,” she says, adding that all the staff at Harrods were his “playthings”. “We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. If he said ‘jump’ employees would ask ‘how high’.” Fayed faced sexual assault claims while he was alive, but these allegations are of unprecedented scale and seriousness. The BBC believes many more women may have been assaulted. 'Fayed was vile' Fayed's entrepreneurial career began on the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, where he hawked fizzy drinks to passers-by. But it was his marriage to the sister of a millionaire Saudi arms dealer that helped him forge new connections and build a business empire. He moved to the UK in 1974 and was already a well-known public figure when he took over Harrods in 1985. In the 1990s and 2000s, he would regularly appear as a guest on prime-time TV chat and entertainment shows. Meanwhile, Fayed - whose son Dodi was killed in a car crash alongside Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997 - has become known to a new generation through the two most recent Netflix series of The Crown. But the women we have spoken to say his portrayal as pleasant and gregarious was far from the truth. “He was vile,” says one of the women, Sophia, who worked as his personal assistant from 1988 to 1991. She says he tried to rape her more than once. “That makes me angry, people shouldn't remember him like that. It's not how he was.” Some of the women waived, or partially waived, their right to anonymity to be filmed - and the BBC agreed not to use surnames. Others chose to remain anonymous. Put together, their testimonies reveal a pattern of predatory behaviour and sexual abuse by Fayed. The Harrods owner would regularly tour the department store's vast sales floors and identify young female assistants he found attractive, who would then be promoted to work in his offices upstairs - former staff, male and female, told us. The assaults would be carried out in Harrods’ offices, in Fayed's London apartment, or on foreign trips - often in Paris at the Ritz hotel, which he also owned, or his nearby Villa Windsor property. At Harrods, other former staff members told us it was clear what was happening. “We all watched each other walk through that door thinking, ‘you poor girl, it's you today’ and feeling utterly powerless to stop it,” Alice, not her real name, says. 'He raped me' Rachel, not her real name, worked as a personal assistant in Harrods in the 1990s. One night after work, she says she was called to his luxury apartment, in a large block on Park Lane overlooking London's Hyde Park. The building was protected by security staff and had an on-site office staffed by Harrods employees. Rachel says Fayed asked her to sit on his bed and then put his hand on her leg, making it clear what he wanted. “I remember feeling his body on me, the weight of him. Just hearing him make these noises. And… just going somewhere else in my head. “He raped me.” The BBC has spoken to 13 women who say Fayed sexually assaulted them at 60 Park Lane. Four of them, including Rachel, say they were raped. Sophia, who says she was sexually assaulted, described the whole situation as an inescapable nightmare. “I couldn't leave. I didn’t have a [family] home to go back to, I had to pay rent,” she says. “I knew I had to go through this and I didn’t want to. It was horrible and my head was scrambled.”Gemma, who worked as one of Fayed’s personal assistants between 2007-09, says his behaviour became more frightening during work trips abroad. She says it culminated in her being raped at Villa Windsor in Paris's Bois de Boulogne - a former home, post-abdication, of King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson. Gemma says she woke up startled in her bedroom. Fayed was next to her bed wearing just a silk dressing gown. He then tried to get into bed with her. “I told him, ‘no, I don't want you to’. And he proceeded to just keep trying to get in the bed, at which point he was kind of on top of me and [I] really couldn't move anywhere. “I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself on me.” She says after Fayed raped her she cried, while he got up and told her aggressively to wash herself with Dettol. “Obviously he wanted me to erase any trace of him being anywhere near me,” she explains. Eight other women have also told us they were sexually assaulted by Fayed at his properties in Paris. Five women described the assaults as an attempted rape.'Open secret' “The abuse of women, I was aware of it when I was on the shop floor," says Tony Leeming, a Harrods department manager from 1994 to 2004. It “wasn't even a secret”, recalls Mr Leeming, who says he did not know about more serious allegations of assault or rape. "And I think if I knew, everybody knew. Anyone who says they didn't are lying, I'm sorry". Mr Leeming's testimony is backed up by former members of Fayed's security team. “We were aware that he had this very strong interest in young girls,” says Eamon Coyle, who joined Harrods in 1979 as a store detective, then became deputy director of security from 1989-95. Meanwhile Steve, who does not want us to use his surname, worked for the billionaire between 1994-95. He told us that security staff “did know that certain things were happening to certain female employees at Harrods and Park Lane”. Many of the women told us that when they began working directly for Fayed they underwent medicals - including invasive sexual health tests carried out by doctors. This was presented as a perk, the women told us, but many did not see their own results - even though they were sent to Fayed. “There is no benefit to anybody knowing what my sexual health is, unless you're planning to sleep with somebody, which I find quite chilling now,” says Katherine, who was an executive assistant in 2005. 'Culture of fear' All the women we spoke to described having felt intimidated at work - which had made it difficult for them to speak out. Sarah, not her real name, explained: “There was most definitely a culture of fear across the whole store - from the lowliest of the low, to the most senior person.” Others told us they believed the phones in Harrods had been tapped - and that women had been scared of talking to each other about Fayed’s abuse, fearing they were being filmed by hidden cameras. The ex-deputy director of security, Eamon Coyle, confirmed this - explaining how part of his job was to listen to tapes of recorded calls. Cameras that could record had also been installed throughout the store, he said, including in the executive suites. “He [Fayed] bugged everybody that he wanted to bug.” Harrods told the BBC in a statement these had been the actions of an individual “intent on abusing his power” which it condemned in the strongest terms. It said: “The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”There were a number of attempts to expose Fayed before his death - notably by Vanity Fair in 1995 - with an article alleging racism, staff surveillance and sexual misconduct. This sparked a libel lawsuit. Mohamed Al Fayed later agreed to drop the case as long as all the further evidence the magazine had gathered of his sexual misconduct in preparation for a trial was locked away. Fayed’s settlement was negotiated by a senior Harrods executive. In 1997, ITV’s The Big Story reported further serious allegations including sexual harassment and groping - which is classed as sexual assault. One of the women in the BBC investigation, Ellie, not her real name, was 15 in 2008 when she reported an assault to the police - an allegation that made headlines - but did not result in any charge. In 2017, Channel 4’s Dispatches broadcast allegations of groping, assault and harassment, with one woman waiving her right to anonymity for the first time. It gave some women the courage to come forward - and was followed by a 2018 investigation on Channel 4 News. But it is only now, with Mohamed Al Fayed having died last year, that many of the women have felt able to speak publicly about rape and attempted rape. Cash and NDAs The BBC documentary reveals that, as part of Gemma's settlement in 2009, she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), a legally-binding contract which ensures information remains confidential. She says after she was raped, she contacted a lawyer who told Harrods she was leaving her job on the grounds of sexual harassment. Gemma says she did not feel able, at that time, to disclose the full extent and seriousness of Fayed's assaults. Harrods agreed she could leave and it would pay a sum of money in exchange for her shredding all evidence and signing an NDA. Gemma says a member of Harrods’ HR team was present as the shredding took place. The BBC has heard that women were threatened and intimidated by Harrods' then-director of security, John Macnamara, to stop them speaking out. Fourteen of the women we spoke to recently brought civil claims against Harrods for damages. The shop's current owners, who are not asking women to sign NDAs, started settling these in July 2023. It took Sophia and Harrods five years to reach an agreement. In her case, the store expressed regret but did not admit liability. Many more women are now considering legal action against Harrods.The barristers representing some of the women we spoke to - Bruce Drummond and Dean Armstrong KC - argue the store was responsible for an unsafe system of work. “Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. Without question, the company failed these ladies,” says Mr Drummond. “That’s why we step in. Because they just did nothing to actually prevent this. They did the opposite. They enabled it.” Mr Armstrong adds: “We say there have been clearly attempts by the senior people at Harrods to sweep this under the carpet.” Many more women are now considering legal action against Harrods. Barrister Maria Mulla - who is also on the legal team representing some of the women - says clients are coming forward now, because previously they have been “absolutely petrified” to speak out. “They want to be part of this movement of holding people accountable for what has happened to them, and trying to make sure these things don't happen again in the future for their own children and for their children.” Harrods told the BBC: “Since new information came to light in 2023 about historic allegations of sexual abuse by Al Fayed, it has been our priority to settle claims in the quickest way possible. This process is still available for any current or former Harrods employees. “While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organisation, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behaviour can never be repeated in the future.” The Ritz hotel in Paris said it “strongly condemns all forms of behaviour that do not align with the values of the establishment”. When Fayed died, unconfirmed reports estimated his worth in excess of £1bn. But money is not the motivation for the women to speak out, they say. “I’ve spent so many years being quiet and silent, not speaking up,” says Gemma, “and I hope talking about it now helps. We can all start feeling better and healing from it.”


Type:Science
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No holds barred in new film on Prince Andrew scandal
Catagory:Reading
Author:
Posted Date:09/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

When Michael Sheen was trying to find a way into portraying the Duke of York, he came across a photo of Prince Andrew as a returning hero from the Falklands War - with a rose clamped between his teeth. Grinning, self-satisfied, the apple of his mother’s eye, a slightly ridiculous royal Romeo, this was the actor’s starting point for depicting the prince in his interview with BBC Two's Newsnight programme - and imagining the huge scale of his fall from grace. Sheen’s remarkable performance dominates this compelling three-part Amazon film, A Very Royal Scandal, as he captures a prince angry and disbelieving at his collapsing status. “I’m the son of the sovereign - if I want to go on telly and defend myself, I will,” he bellows, but with the addition of multiple strong swear words, in a way few royals have been portrayed before. It is a no-holds-barred account that makes Netflix's The Crown look like a rather timid costume drama. Has a royal ever been depicted swearing so much - or palace life as so poisonous? Sheen is famous for how he inhabits his characters – and his version of Prince Andrew is a volatile mix of vanity, vulnerability and a self-destructive lack of self-awareness, as his gilded royal life crumbles after the disastrous interview. He is a sweary, pompous and then needy figure, unaware of how much he is being exposed by his TV interrogator, Emily Maitlis, played by Ruth Wilson. The interview itself is often described as a “car crash” - but in this version, the prince's reputation is more like roadkill.Inevitably, there will be comparisons with the recent Netflix film Scoop, about the same 2019 interview. Rufus Sewell said his interpretation of the prince owed something to David Brent, the deluded manager from BBC Two's The Office sitcom. In this Amazon Prime Video version, Sheen's Prince Andrew is a more complex figure, self-seeking, emotionally deaf, ambitious, loyal to his own immediate family, distrustful of palace officials and with a desperate need for approval. It is a performance where Richard III meets Alan Partridge. When he hears sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has died in prison, the prince's reaction is to ask: “Is this good for me or bad?” And there’s a relentless tension between him and his brother, the then Prince of Wales. “Calls me a mummy’s boy, he’s the mummy’s boy,” Prince Andrew screams, with plenty of very strong swearing added, after an angry phone call.It is not at all flattering to the monarchy. Prince Andrew is portrayed as casually rude to servants - and palace officials mull over the royals’ lack of empathy: “They’ve never been late for a train - because the train waits for them.” Although the recreated Newsnight interview is the centrepiece of the film, perhaps the most pivotal moment is a scene in the first episode, where the prince meets Epstein in New York. It is another excruciating interview, with an embarrassed Prince Andrew needing money and a tough, exploitative Epstein, played by John Hopkins, making him wriggle on his financial hook. Sheen shows the prince as out of his depth in front of such malevolence. And this terrible association with Epstein plays out through the film, with Prince Andrew protesting his innocence as the questions and accusations encircle him, until he is hiding from lawyers trying to serve court papers.This is a much more textured and ultimately more engaging account of events than the Netflix film. It shows the impact on those around Prince Andrew, including his ex-wife, the Duchess of York, and their daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Their loyalty to him is depicted as being from a real family rather than the Royal Family. Prince Andrew’s private secretary, Amanda Thirsk, beautifully played by Joanna Scanlan, is still defending him even after she has lost her job in the wake of the Newsnight interview. And their relationship, a mix of co-dependency and scapegoating, has echoes of Alan Partridge and his assistant, Lynn.The prince's downfall comes with his calamitous TV interview. And this film suggests some of the most famous moments - such as his lines on not being able to sweat and going to a Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, nearly ended up being cut in the editing. But despite the awards and plaudits that follow, Maitlis is seen as having her own self-doubts. She raises the question of what has happened to Epstein’s victims and points to the lack of resolution in any legal proceedings. Out-of-court settlement At the heart of this drama is an ambiguity. The civil case in the US between Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre ended in an out-of-court settlement, with the prince strongly rejecting any accusations of wrongdoing. But neither side had their day in court. And the film shows Prince Andrew wanting to do the Newsnight interview because he thinks it might mean checking his claim the photograph of him and Ms Giuffre might have been faked. The other big unknown for the viewer is how much is fact and how much fiction. Did Prince Andrew really call his private secretary “Fatty” and race her across the garden? Did Elizabeth II’s private secretary, the urbane Sir Edward Young, really say things such as: “We’ll be shovelling more shit than Dyno-Rod.” The film comes with the disclaimer: “This drama is based on real events and individuals. Some scenes have been fictionalised and adapted for dramatic purposes.” Publicly brutal It is not a documentary and the storytelling and pace of a drama means changes to the sequence of events. For instance, in the film, Prince Andrew is told Covid is to be used as a face-saving excuse for him not to be at the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. In reality, Covid was indeed given as an explanation for why he missed a Jubilee service. But a month before, the Palace had been quite open in a press briefing that the prince would not be on the Buckingham Palace balcony as he was no longer a working royal. The suggestion of surreptitiousness works as drama - but in reality, his exclusion was even more publicly brutal. But such powerful dramas can have a habit of overwriting history - and Sheen’s performance could change forever how Prince Andrew will be remembered.


Type:Social
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UN General Assembly demands Israel ends occupation of Palestinian territories
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

The UN General Assembly has adopted a Palestinian-drafted, non-binding resolution demanding Israel end "its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" within 12 months. There were 124 votes in favour and 14 against, including Israel, along with 43 abstentions. As a non-member observer state, Palestine could not vote. The resolution is based on a July advisory opinion from the UN's highest court that said Israel was occupying the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip against international law. The Palestinian ambassador called the vote a turning point “in our struggle for freedom and justice”. But his Israeli counterpart denounced it as “diplomatic terrorism”. Although the General Assembly’s resolutions are not binding, they carry symbolic and political weight given they reflect the positions of all 193 member states of the UN. It comes after almost a year of war in Gaza, which began when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others as hostages. More than 41,110 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. There has also been a spike in violence in the West Bank over the same period, in which the UN says more than 680 Palestinians and 22 Israelis have been killed. The advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) - which was also not legally binding - said a 15-judge panel had found that "Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful” and that the country was “under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence... as rapidly as possible”. The court also said Israel should “evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory” and “make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned”. Israel has built about 160 settlements housing some 700,000 Jews in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967. The court said the settlements “have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law”, which Israel has consistently disputed. Israel's prime minister said at the time that the court had made a "decision of lies" and insisted that “the Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land”. Wednesday’s General Assembly resolution welcomed the ICJ’s declaration. It demands that Israel “brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory... and do so no later than 12 months”, and “comply without delay with all its legal obligations under international law”. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry described its passing as a “pivotal and historic moment for the Palestinian cause and international law”. It emphasised that the support of almost two thirds of UN member states reflected “a global consensus that the occupation must end and its crimes must cease”, and that it “reaffirmed the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination”. Israel’s foreign ministry called the resolution “a distorted decision that is disconnected from reality, encourages terrorism and harms the chances for peace”, adding: “This is what cynical international politics looks like.” It said the resolution “bolsters and strengthens the Hamas terrorist organisation” and “sends a message that terrorism pays off and yields international resolutions”. It also accused the Palestinian Authority of “conducting a campaign whose goal is not to resolve the conflict but to harm Israel” and vowed to respond. The US, which voted against the resolution, warned beforehand that the text was “one-sided” and “selectively interprets the substance of the ICJ’s opinion”. “There is no path forward or hope offered through this resolution today. Its adoption will not save Palestinian lives, bring the hostages home, end Israeli settlements, or reinvigorate the peace process,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. The UK’s ambassador, Barbara Woodward, explained that it had abstained “not because we do not support the central findings of the ICJ's advisory opinion, but rather because the resolution does not provide sufficient clarity to effectively advance our shared aim of a peace premised on a negotiated two-state solution”.


Type:Social
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Israeli arrested over Iran plot to kill Netanyahu, Israeli security services say
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/19/2024
Posted By:utopia online

An Israeli citizen has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a plot by Iran to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials, Israel's security services say. Israeli police and domestic intelligence said the man was twice smuggled into Iran and received payment to carry out missions. In a joint statement, they said the suspect was a businessman who had lived in Turkey and had Turkish contacts who had helped get him into Iran. The announcement comes at a time of soaring tension between Iran and Israel, regional arch-enemies. The statement said the suspect, who was not identified, was arrested last month. It said his targets were the prime minister, the defence minister and the head of Israel internal security agency Shin Bet. It said that in April and May, the suspect twice travelled to Samandag in Turkey to meet a wealthy Iranian businessman called Eddie, and was helped by two Turkish citizens. The statement said Eddie had problems leaving Iran on both occasions, so the Israeli citizen was smuggled from Turkey into Iran instead. It said that the man met both Eddie and "an Iranian security operative" there. It said Eddie asked the Israeli to "carry out various security missions within Israel for the Iranian regime". According to the statement, these included transferring money or a gun, photographing crowded places in Israel and sending them to "Iranian elements", and threatening other Israeli citizens who had been recruited by Iran but had not completed their tasks.


Type:Social
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Enkutatash
Catagory: History
Author:
Posted Date:09/11/2024
Posted By:utopia online

(Ge'ez: እንቁጣጣሽ) is a public holiday in coincidence of New Year in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It occurs on Meskerem 1 on the Ethiopian calendar, which is 11 September (or, during a leap year, 12 September) according to the Gregorian calendar. Enkutatash is the name for the Ethiopian New Year and means “gift of jewels” in the Amharic language. The story goes back almost 3,000 years to the Queen of Sheba of ancient Ethiopia and Yemen, who was returning from a trip to visit King Solomon of Israel in Jerusalem, as mentioned in the Bible in I Kings 10 and II Chronicles 9. She had gifted Solomon with 120 talents of gold (4.5 tons) and many unique spices and jewels. When the Queen returned to Ethiopia, her chiefs welcomed her with enku or jewels to replenish her treasury. Celebration of Enkutatash The celebration is both religious and secular. Typically this is the end of the long rainy season, and the countryside is covered with yellow daisies. The day begins with church services, followed by the family meal. Young children will receive small gifts of money or bread after the girls gather flowers and sing, and the boys paint pictures of saints. Families visit friends, and adults drink Ethiopian beer. Date for Enkutatash The Ethiopian calendar is a unique form of the Coptic or Alexandrian calendar, derived from the earlier Egyptian calendar, influencing the Julian calendar. On September 12, 2007, Ethiopia celebrated its bi-millennial or 2,000 years from the Annunciation of Christ. Why is their calendar 7-8 years different from the West’s Gregorian calendar?In the West, the calendar was calculated around A.D. 525 by Dionysius Exiguus, a Roman monk-mathematician-astronomer who based his calculations for the birth of Christ on an erroneous date for the death of Herod the Great. In the East, an Alexandrian monk named Panodorus (or Annias) did his calculations differently around A.D. 400 for the Egyptian calendar. Reffrence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkutatash https://billpetro.com/history-of-ethiopian-new-year-what-is-enkutatash/


Type:Education
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The Ethiopic Calendar
Catagory: History
Author:
Posted Date:09/11/2024
Posted By:utopia online

By Dr. Aberra Molla Ethiopia has its own ancient calendar. According to the beliefs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, God created the world 5500 years before the birth of Christ and it is 1994 years since Jesus was born. Based on this timeline, we are in the year 7494 of the eighth millennium (or ስምንተኛው ሺህ). These are referred to as Amete Alem (ዓመተ ዓለም) in Amharic or “the years of the world”. Era of the world dates from 5493 B.C. Ethiopic is not the only calendar in Ethiopia either. The works of Enoch(ሄኖክ) had been in Ethiopia and Egypt before the times of Moses and on through the times of King Solomon and Queen of Sheba. As has been the case for Israel, Egypt and Ethiopia have had important roles in Biblical History. An Enochian year is completed in 364 days, Enoch 82:4-7 andJubilees 6:23-28. More precisely, a 365-day-solar-year and the 365-year-solar-cycle appear as a 365-days-and-years single term. From the three books of Enoch, a curious 364-day length of calendar year lends new insight by reserving the last day of the solar year. Ethiopians followed the Old Testament before the introduction of Christianity (1 Kings 10:1-9). The Arc of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia long before Christianity accepted the Old Testament and offered worship to God. The Oromo (ኦሮሞ)people have their own calendar. Bete Israel (ቤተ እሥራዔል) believe in the Jewish faith. The Ethiopic Enochian Calendar had 364 days per year. The Book of Enoch, whose Ethiopic version in its entirety survived only in Ethiopia and was taken to Europe by James Bruce was publicized around 1790 A.D.The Book of Enoch has been part of the Ethiopian Bible and Enoch 28:11 mentions the completion of the year in 364 days. (ዓመቱም በሦስት መቶ ስልሳ ኣራት ቀን ይጨረሳል ነገሩ እውነትም ነው የተጻፈው ቍጥሩ የተጠነቀቀ ነው። መጽሓፈ ሄኖክ ምዕ. ፳፰ ቊ.፲፩።– Amharic Bible.) (In view of the Ethiopian Orthodox, Enoch wrote his Ethiopic Bible as the first and oldest author in any human language.) The earliest known date is 4236 B.C.E., the founding of the Egyptian calendar. The ancient Egyptian calendar was lunar. The solar Coptic (ግብጽ) calendar, oldest in history, originated three millennia before the birth of Christ. The exact date of its Egyptian origin is unknown. It is believed thatImhotep, the supreme official of King Djoser C.2670 B.C. had a great impact on the construction of the calendar. Historically, ancient Egyptians initially used a civil calendar based on a solar year that consisted of 365 days only, without making any adjustment for the additional quarter of a day each year. Each year had 12 months. The heliacal rising of Sirius coincides with the arrival of the highest point of river Nile flood at Memphis marking the first day of the year. The new year of the ancient Egyptians started on Meskerem 1 (መስከረም ፩). This date is an Ethiopian new year signaling the end of Noah’s flood. (The Hebrew new years also start in Meskerem. The Egyptian solar calendar consisted of 12 30-day months with five extra festival days at the end of the year. It should be noted that the chronology of 3,000 years of Ancient Egyptian history, by modern Egyptologists, was made possible only because the Ancient Egyptians followed the SothicYear of slightly over 365¼ days, i.e. 365.25636 days.) The connection between Egypt and Ethiopia from at least as early as the Twenty-second Dynasty was very intimate and occasionally the two countries were under the same ruler, so that the arts and civilization of the one naturally found their way into the other. The Ethiopian Calendar has more in common with the Coptic Egyptian Calendar. The Ethiopic and Coptic calendars have 13 months, 12 of 30 days each and an intercalary month at the end of the year of 5 or 6 days depending whether the year is a leap year or not. The year starts on 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar (G.C.) or on the 12th in (Gregorian) Leap Years. The Coptic Leap Year follows the same rules as the Gregorian so that the extra month always has 6 days in a Gregorian Leap Year. The names of the months and their starting dates are as follows: Amharic in Ethiopic Amharic in Latin Coptic Pronunciation Start Date Start Date Leap Year መስከረም Meskerem Tout 11 Sept 12 Sept ጥቅምት Thikimt Baba 11 Oct 12 Oct ኅዳር Hidar Hator 10 Nov 11 Nov ታኅሣሥ Tahsas Kiahk 10 Dec 11 Dec ጥር Thir Toba 9 Jan 10 Jan የካቲት Yekatit Amshir 8 Feb 9 Feb መጋቢት Megabit Baramhat 10 Mar – ሚያዝያ Miyazia Baramouda 9 Apr – ግንቦት Ginbot Bashans 9 May – ሰኔ Senie Paona 9 Jun – ሓምሌ Hamlie Epep 8 Jul – ነሓሴ Nehasie Mesra 7Aug – ጳጉሜን Phagumien Nasie 6 Sep – Following his conquest of Egypt, Julius Caesar consulted the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes (ሶሲጂነስ) about calendar reform. The calendar that Julius Caesar adopted in the Roman year 709 A.U.C. (Ab Urbe Condita, i.e. since the founding of Rome or 46 B.C.) was identical to the AlexandrianAristarchus’ (የካህናት) calendar of 239 B.C., and consisted of a solar year of twelve months and of 365 days with an extra day every fourth year. This calendar that replaced the Roman calendar became the Julian calendar. The lunar Roman calendar had only ten months with December (the Latindecem for ten) as the tenth month until January and February were inserted. Quintilis, the fifth month, was changed to July in honor of Julius Caesar and Sextilis was renamed August for Augustus Caesar. When the Roman papal chancellor, Bonifacius, asked a monk by the name of Dionysius Exiguus (ዲዮናሲዮስ ኤክሲጅዮስ) to implement the rules from the Nicaean Council (የኒቅያ ጉባዔ) for general use and to prepare calculations of the dates of Easter, Dionysius fixed Jesus’ birth in such a manner that it falls on 25 December 753 A.U.C., thus making the current era start with A.D. 1 on 1 January 754 A.U.C. It was about 525 A.D. that Dionysius Exiguus, started his count (instead of the Diocletian / ዲዮቅልጥያኖስ of 284 A.D.) with the year 1 A.D., considered to be the year of the birth of Christ. It is likely that Jesus was actually born around 7 B.C. or before King Herod’sdeath in 750 A.U.C. The Venerable Bede wrote the history of the early centuries of England in 731 A.D. He adopted the system of Dionysius and its use spread. Unfortunately, Bede made a blunder when he invented the B.C. system and stuck it immediately before A.D. 1. A year and a day were lost because of this error and the controversy on the start of new millennium has even run into 2000 G.C. though 2001 is assumed to be the new beginning. The Julian Calendar was modified to the Gregorian calendar in 1582 A.D. Pope Gregory authorized that ten days be excised from October 5 through October 14 in the year 1582 and added about nine days to the new calendar. Christians celebrated Easter on the same date, using the algorithm from A.D. 325 until 1582. In 1583 G.C. Joseph Scaliger introduced the Julian day and began counting time from 4713 B.C. taking it day by day. In 1740 G.C. Jacques Cassini used +1 to designate A.D. 1 so that +1 is preceded by year 0, which is preceded by year -1. In the Gregorian Calendar, the tropical year is approximated as 365+97/400 days = 365.2425 days. Thus it takes approximately 3300 years for the tropical year to shift one day with respect to the Gregorian calendar. The approximation 365+97/400 is achieved by having 97 leap years every 400 years. Some claim that the Gregorian calendar took care of the extra 11 minutes and 14 seconds of the tropical solar year with365.242199 days instead of the 365.25 days. Yet, in the Eastern Orthodox system a century year is a leap year only if division of the century number by 900 leaves a remainder of 200 or 600 with 365+218/900 days =365.242222 days, which is certainly more accurate than the official Gregorian number of 365.2425 days. Furthermore, due to the gravitational dynamics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system the length of the tropical year is not constant. In the Ethiopian calendar leap years come every four years. The Julian year is equal in length to the Coptic or Ethiopic year. In the Gregorian calendar every year that is exactly divisible by 4 is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100; these centurial years are leap years only if they are exactly divisible by 400. In other word, Ethiopic has 100 Leap years every 400 years while Gregorian has 97. (With the proper intercalation the Ethiopic Enochian calendar can be made more accurate. For instance an intercalation of a year every 293 years (107016 days) gives 365.2423 days, a fraction very close to the real time of 365.2422 days (20926 divided by 86000 seconds equals 0.2422 of a day). An unexpected feature of the 364-day year of Enoch is that it results in an average year length even more accurate than the modern Gregorian calendar. The actual length of the year is now 365.2422 days. The Gregorian calendar averages 365.2425 days. But if 52 weeks are intercalated every 293 years into the calendar of Enoch, then it averages 365.2423 days which is extremely accurate. It is very surprising that such accuracy can be obtained by intercalating an entire week at a time over so short a time period. In contrast, the Gregorian calendar intercalates one day at a time over a 400-year cycle and achieves less long-term accuracy.) The Ethiopic calendar differs from both the Coptic and the Julian calendars. The current 1994 Ethiopian Calendar (E.C.) year is equivalent to the 1718 Coptic Calendar (C.C.), the 2001 Julian Calendar (J.C.) and the 2001 Gregorian Calendar (G.C.) years. After the massive killing by the Romans that was so severe and traumatic the Egyptians began a new calendar called “The Martyr’s Calendar” in A.D. 284. The difference between the Ethiopic and Coptic is 276 years. In spite of this, the Ethiopic Calendar is closely associated with the rules and the different calculations influenced by the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church.(According to Aymro and Motovu, the Calendar of the Ethiopian Church came from Egypt and as to methods and dates agrees with the Calendar of the Coptic Church. But the two calendars differ with regards to the saints’ days and the time of observing them.) According to Ethiopian scholars such as Aleqa Kidane Wold Kiflie (ኣለቃ ኪዳነ ወልድ ክፍሌ), the Ethiopic Calendar A.D. differs from other Christian calendars because of the continuity to these years after completion of the 5500 years and the former is religious while the latter is based on history. The Ethiopic years are seven years behind the Western and Eastern Church calendars. The seven years difference by Meskerem 1 or መስከረም ፩ becomes eight on January 1. Ethiopic uses the 5500 E.B.C. years in proleptic as well as modern calendrical calculations. According to Asrat Gebre Mariam (ዓሥራት ገብረ ማርያም) and Gebre Hiwot Mehari (ገብረ ሕይወት መሓሪ), the Romans endorsed an inaccurate figure by the time they started from counting the birth year of Jesus Christ. Exiguus suggested that the Romans (drop the A.U.C. calendar and) start with the Christian Calendar in 532 A.M. (and 19 lunar cycles times 28 solar cycles equals 532). Many churches accepted the A.D. 1 (or 753 A.U.C.) calculation of Exiguus, which was off by four years, only because of the difficulty associated with changing calendar rules and regulations established on it. The authors point out to evidence presented by Flavius Josephus and other which include Matthew 2:1. Also Tiberius Caesar became the king of Rome in the Roman 765 year and Jesus started teaching fifteen years into his reign, at the age of thirty, in 780 A.U.C.- seeLuke 3:1–23. The starting point of the Jewish calendar is 3761 B.C., the date for the creation of the world according to their religion. The Aztecs believed that the creation of the world occurred 3113 B.C. The Greek epoch correlates to 776 B.C.E. Olympiad. The Islamic Calendar started from A.D. 622 after the flight of Mohammed to Medina. The Geez Calendar (ቀለንጦስ) is divided into old and new. The old era which is equivalent to the B.C. is Zemene Bluy (Z.B.) or (ዘመነ ብሉይ). Zemene Haddis (Z.H.) or (ዘመነ ሓዲስ) is Anno Domini (A.D.), though it is commonly referred to as Amete Mihret (A.M.) which means “years of mercy”. Amete Mihret (ዓመተ ምሕረት) is abbreviated as ዓ.ም.. Coptic Years are Amete Semaetat (ዓመተ ሰማዕታት or ዓ.ሰ.). The Gregorian Calendar years are followed by እንደ ኤውሮጳ ኣቆጣጠር, which means according to the “European” calendar and is abbreviated as እ.ኤ.ኣ.. In Amharic Julius is ዩልዮስ, Gregory is ጎርጎርዮስ and B.C. is ከክርስቶስ በፊት (ክ.በ.). The current Ethiopic year can be written as ፲፱፻፺፬ ዓ.ም., 1994 A.M., 1994 Z.H., 7494 A.A. and even ፩፱፱፬ ዓ.ም.. The Ethiopians, like all their contemporaries, probably did not know about the zero between the B.C. and the A.D. years. In spite of this, 5500 +Amete Mihret years divided by 4 is an Ethiopic Leap year if the remainder is 3. Leap (ሠግር) years by the Ethiopian Calendar are those that end in a Gregorian calendar year preceding a Gregorian calendar leap year. The Ethiopic Leap day is Phagumien 6 (ጳጉሜን ፮). Calendar raises the issue of the types of counting glyphs used for documentation. The ancient people might have used the “Aebegede” (አበገደ) digits. The numerals of the Heleheme (ሀለሐመ) Ethiopic are notalphabetic (ፊደላዊ ኣኃዝ) to Ethiopic. Some Ethiopians claim that the resemblance of most Ethiopic numbers to the Greek or Coptic numerals do not necessarily mean they were copied from them. Recent research shows that the Greek alphabetic numerals were borrowed from the EgyptianDemotic system. The modern Ethiopian calendar is tabulated with Ethiopic and Latin alphanumeric characters to make it bi-alphabetic and includes the G.C. dates. Many incorporate national, Christian and Muslim holidays. (The week tables start with Sundays.) It has continued to play important roles in agriculture, genealogy, astronomy, history, astrology, commerce, science, etc. and in calculating movable holidays such as Ethiopian Easter. Many other movable Christian holidays change with the Easter (that also uses the Hebrew Calendar). Ethiopian calendar tables are usually annual, though one spans 532 years. The calendar cycles repeat and thus the charts are re-usable. Dr. Getatchew has published examples and describes how the 532-year cycle table with the movable holidays (በዓላት) and fast (ኣጽዋማት) days was created for the first time by Annianus (ኣንያኖስ), an Egyptian monk, who lived around 400 A.M. The table was for the 12th cycle or years 5853 to 6384 A.A. Groups of years like those associated with lunar and solar cycles have Amharic names (qemer / ቀመር, awde chereka / ዓውደ ጨረቃ, terefe tsehay /ተረፈ ፀሓይ, etc.). The Ethiopic years have four-year cycles. The years are named after the evangelists Matthew (ማቴዎስ), Luke (ሉቃስ), Mark (ማርቆስ) and John (ዮሓንስ). Each year has four seasons, similar to autumn (fall or ፀደይ), winter (ክረምት), spring (መጸው) and summer (በጋ). An Ethiopian week has seven days. Each day has a numeric value for use in calendarical calculations. For instance, Pope Demetrios (ፓትርያርክ ድመጥሮስ) of the Churchof Alexandria (seat of St. Mark see) utilized Mitonic cycles, the calculations of Ptolemy and the Egyptian calendar to establish the rules for calculating Easter and the day of a particular new year. Asrat and Gebre Hiwot have published the arithmetic of similar Ethiopic old methods. Days in Amharic Alphabet (ዕለት) Amharic Days in Latin Alphabet Days in English እሑድ Ehud Sunday ሰኞ Segno Monday ማክሰኞ Maksegno Tuesday ረቡዕ Rebu Wednesday ሓሙስ Hamus Thursday ዓርብ Arb Friday ቅዳሜ Kidamie Saturday Apart from hours, minutes, seconds, etc. Ethiopic also has a time frame known as kekros (ኬክሮስ). A kekros is 1/60th of a day. An Ethiopian solar year has 365 days and 15 kekroses while a lunar year has 354 days and 22 kerkoses. (A 1987 E.C. Amharic book by Asrat (ዓሥራት) and Gebre Hiwot (ገብረ ሕይወት) is recommended for more information on the calendar or calculations of the holidays in accordance with a book called Bahre Hassab (b’R ‘sb). For example, the 1994 A.M. Meskerem 1 day can be calculated by adding 7494 A.A.+1873 and dividing the sum by 7. If the remainder is one it is on a Tuesday. (1873 is 5500 Z.B.+1994 A.M. divided by 4.) Listed below are the calculated holidays and fast days of the EthiopianOrthodox Tewahido Church for 1994 (፲፱፻፺፬ ዓ.ም.) and 2000 E.C. (፳፻ ዓ.ም.). A Wenber (ወንበር) of 7, an Abeqtie (ኣበቅቴ) of 17 and a Methiqi (መጥቅዕ) of 13 were utilized for the year of Mark (ዘመነ ማርቆስ) that started Tuesday morning Ethiopic night time (12:00 E.N.) or 6:00 P.M. on September 11, 2001G.C. What is important is to calculate Nineveh (ነነዌ). One of the reasons behind the controversy between the Ethiopian and the Gregorian calendars is because Pope Gregory abandoned the rules for calculating Easter and introduced new rules in 1582 without consulting the Alexandrian Church. Gregorian also changed the beginning of Julian new years from መጋቢት (March) to ጥር (January) and reduced Leap years. It also involves the minutes that add up to one day (about every 128 years) and the relative positions of these days within the year numbers, while the days have constantly remained the same. The Ethiopian calendar lacks the historical numerical discontinuity and inflation of the other Christian calendars and may be one of the oldest, even if it is another inaccurate calendar. As a result, it is not affected by the absence of the zero digit and it is reasonable to conclude that the new millennium will begin on Meskerem 1, 2001 E.C. (መስከረም ፩ ቀን ፳፻፩ ዓ.ም.). Considering that all calendars are not really accurate and we continue to worry about leap seconds to improve on them while ignoring years, the reluctance of Ethiopians in accepting the Gregorian calendar is understandable. However, the four years gap introduced by Exiguus does not account for the seven years difference between the Ethiopic and the Christian calendars. If Jesus was born in 7 B.C. and nobody made the effort to correct the error, the A.D. years should have remained the same. The Ethiopians imply that Exiguus used 532 in the wrong year without mentioning the A.D. year, though he was working on his Easter calculations in (the proleptic) A.D. 525. The difference of about seven years has moved date of creation of the Julian calendar by as many years relative to the Ethiopian. Further research is justified for historical, chronological, computational and other reasons and to find out how the Ethiopians stayed younger in spite of hanging onto the calendar for millennia. The Ethiopian calendar is neither Julian nor Gregorian. (The difference between the Ethiopian and Julian calendars most likely appeared only after Exiguus came up with Anno Domini.) For instance, Ethiopic days could be references. In a new book in Amharic, ባሕረ ሓሳብ (Bahra Hassab), Getatchew Haile (ጌታቸው ኃይሌ) used 365.25 days per year starting with Tuesday, Meskerem 1, 5500 years before the birth of Jesus. Nevertheless, if the birth of Christ is a new era for Christians we might as well get ready to celebrate the new millennium with Ethiopians in the year 2001 E.C. onSeptember 11, 2008 G.C. Why is the Ethiopian Calendar different? The main reason for this difference is that the Ethiopian Calendar places Jesus’ birth in 7 BC (Before Christ) and begins its count from that point. On the flip side, the Gregorian calendar marks Jesus’ birth as 1 AD and initiates its date count from that time. There are eight years of difference between 7 BC, when the Ethiopians believed Jesus was born, and 1 AD, which followed the Gregorian calendar. From 7 BC, the year is counted to 6 BC, 5 BC, 4 BC, 3 BC, 2 BC, 1 BC, and 1 AD. This, and other astronomical calculations, explain the years apart in both calendars. Some unique features of the Ethiopian Calendar The Ethiopian calendar is based on the same astronomical calculations as the Gregorian calendar, albeit with some differences in the calculation method and starting point. A full year in Ethiopia comprises 13 months. The first 12 months have 30 days each, the 13th month has five days, and in a leap year, it has six days. Refference https://www.dataphyte.com/latest-reports/is-the-ethiopian-calendar-eight-years-behind-the-world/ https://ethiopiancalendar.wordpress.com/history/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_calendar


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China-Africa partnership main pillar of South-South cooperation: Antonio Guterres
Catagory:News
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Posted Date:09/06/2024
Posted By:utopia online

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said here Thursday that China’s partnership with Africa is the main pillar of South-South cooperation. “China’s partnership with the African continent is the main pillar of South-South cooperation,” said Guterres while addressing the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held here in Beijing. “Your joint efforts, based on the United Nations Charter, can create a new momentum for African development.” Guterres highlighted the partnership actions for modernization that were announced Thursday by Chinese President Xi Jinping. As a longstanding and the largest trading partner of Africa, “China’s remarkable record of development — including on eradicating poverty — provides a wealth of experience and expertise” to the African continent, he said. China-Africa partnership can “drive the renewable energy revolution,” and be “a catalyst for key transitions in food systems and digital connectivity,” said Guterres, noting that Africa can maximize the potential of China’s support in areas from trade to data management, finance and technology. Guterres also supported President Xi’s decision to launch the Global Development Initiative that is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the focus on green development and promoting integrity-based cooperation. “You can count on the full engagement of the United Nations in support of a strong China-Africa partnership, towards our shared goal of peace, sustainable development and human rights on a healthy planet,” he said.


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